Seven Stars
by play.read.write
Summary: Lightning and her friends from Cocoon have arrived on the planet Gran Pulse with a mission, but get a less than warm welcome. Someone or something is trying to stop them, but who or what? Even more important, why? Fangrai-forever prompt fill 118: FFXIII - Dragon Ball Z 'verse.
1. A New World

Seven Stars

"We're almost there. Just a few more days." Sazh said from his seat at the front of the ship. He turned around and let the autopilot keep the course as he looked over his fellow passengers. The couple, Serah and Snow, sat in a single seat in the large open common room of the ship. Snows arms were wrapped around her as she sat in his lap. The engagement necklaces around their necks were a reminder of how peaceful life had been not long ago. Now, though, he wasn't sure what they were going to do. Either way they seemed to care about each other a lot – that had to be worth something.

On the side opposite the two sat a young boy, Hope. Poor kid was still struggling to deal with all he had been through. Sazh didn't blame him; he didn't know what he would have done. He barely spoke, though, and seemed to refuse help. Hopefully he could work through some stuff on his own.

Sazh's own son, Dajh, sat nearby, playing with a little baby chocobo. It brought a smile to his face. The little bird had been a great companion to the little boy. Without kids his own age to play with, Sazh wondered if his son would have fared as well without the creature.

The last member of the ship he couldn't see. He didn't have to though, he knew where she was. Looking over at a wall his scanner picked up her energy. Exactly as he thought – the training room. The girl was always in the training room. He wasn't even sure why she kept it up anymore. After all, he didn't think you could get much stronger than she was. If they didn't all have scanners he had upgraded himself, he was sure that they would break just from her being nearby. That was even when she was keeping her power down, not even at her highest. It bothered him too; someone that young shouldn't have that much of a burden.

He didn't have time to think on it though. She was moving now, heading into the common room. He reached up and turned off his scanner just before she walked through the doorway. All eyes followed her as she crossed the room wearing her training gear. Gloves with removable weights attached to the back (he didn't even want to know how much they weighed), a tight sleeveless shirt, and a pair of fairly modest shorts. Despite her old soldier's uniform being her usual choice of attire, this was what most of them were used to seeing. A towel hung around her neck as she reached the large refrigeration unit at the back of the room. As she opened the door, even Sazh felt the chill reach his feet. Despite standing far longer than she needed, all she got out was a bottle of water that she drank half of in a few seconds.

"Hey Lightning," Serah prompted, getting her sister's attention. "Is it going well?" Lightning lowered the water and closed the fridge. She sighed, looking down, before returning her attention to Serah.

"No," she said. "I don't think I'm getting any stronger. Without anyone to train against, or at least better equipment, I can't get any better."

"Well, maybe you could take a break." Serah suggested, "Since you said you can't do anything right now."

"No," Lightning said again firmly. "I can't afford to take a break. If I stop now, I may not be strong enough."

"But you've been training almost non-stop since last time; I'm worried about you." Serah said, standing now. "I don't want you to push yourself too far."

"If I don't push myself I'll never improve. You remember what happened. If I don't get better, I might as well not even try."

"Lightning, please," Serah begged as Lightning tensed. "We've only got a few days left. You need to rest. For me, please." Lightning let her head drop. Serah was all she had left, her only family. That, plus the desperation in Serah's eyes, made it really hard to say no to her. Finally, she looked back and answered.

"Tomorrow. I'll finish out today, and then I'll rest tomorrow." Serah smiled at the answer, it was the best she was going to get. _**…...**_

Lightning sat in the copilot's chair with her arms crossed. She was not happy to be here. As much as she wanted to keep Serah from worrying, she still felt like she should be doing something. At the moment she was just sitting here, staring out the window, keeping an eye on the sensors that would tell them if anything was nearby. She didn't even need to be doing this; Sazh was more than capable of doing so on his own. The devices warned them even if they weren't watching, and they hadn't seen anyone or anything for over a week now. Aside from all that Sazh was sitting in the pilot's seat right next to her in case anything did happen.

She sighed and looked at the devices in front of her. Nothing happened. She sighed again and looked out the window. Nothing out there. How the hell did Sazh do this all day? She sat very still, only moving to look in a new direction. She had enough self-discipline to avoid fidgeting, but she really just wanted to go do something, anything else. She was a patient person, she just didn't like sitting around doing nothing.

The sound of footsteps approaching from behind reached her ears. Not loud enough to be Snow, too many to be Serah, too slow to be a child, that meant it had to be the teenager. "Do you need something, Hope?" she asked.

The footsteps stopped as he halted. "Umm, well, I, uh…" he started. Lightning ground her teeth at his stuttering.

"Just say it, Hope." She ordered.

"I was wondering if you could train me." He blurted out.

Now that piqued her interest. Lightning turned the chair around to face him. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"I was wondering," he started off slowly. He had his head bowed down, staring at his feet as he spoke. "If you could, umm, train me." He rubbed the back of his neck now, still refusing to look up at her.

"Why should I do that?" she asked. He refused to so much as look at her, she wasn't sure he was ready for any kind of training.

"Well, I… I want to…" he started, but Lightning cut him off.

"Just say it." Lightning said with an edge in her voice, though she kept herself level.

"I want to get stronger." he said quickly.

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "Why?" she asked, then quickly added, "And don't stutter."

Hope didn't answer for a few moments and Lightning began to wonder if he was going to at all. Just when she was about to prompt him again, he started speaking. "I want to get stronger," he started, pausing once more to gather his thoughts while still staring at his feet, "so that if someone attacks again, I can fight back. I won't be just hiding under a rock."

Lightning sat there and thought about the comment for a moment. He wasn't exaggerating; she had been unconscious at the time, but Serah had said they literally found him hiding underneath a rock. According to Serah, his mother had told him to stay there while she went to find his father. It could be pretty well guaranteed that both of them were dead now. Finally she spoke up.

"Why didn't you ask Snow to train you?" she asked. She knew that Snow used the training room whenever he could, and she wouldn't deny that the man had strength.

"Snow's an idiot." he answered. Lightning didn't even bother speaking, she couldn't argue with that. "Besides, you're a lot stronger than he is."

Lightning sat there for a moment considering his request. Her shoulders relaxed as she thought. She didn't know him very well, but she felt for him. He had been through so much already, and handled it surprisingly well. Sazh's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Just help the kid," he said, "Unless you want to stay here with me an' keep an eye on things."

With that Lightning looked out the window at the empty space she knew wasn't going to change anytime soon. "Let's go." she said, walking towards the training room. Hope shot Sazh a 'thank you' look before running after her. Lightning led the way to the room and opened the door. Hope was astonished by what was inside. Even on a ship of this size, he had never expected to see this much equipment. There were basic machines like treadmills and stationary bikes for muscle building, more advanced equipment for working your whole body at once, and even equipment for energy based attacks. The most important thing he noticed was that he immediately had trouble walking the moment he crossed the threshold, as if he had large weights on his back.

"What is this?" he asked. "I can barely move." He lifted his legs one at a time, slowly walking forward with an obvious effort.

"I always keep the training room at a higher gravity level than the rest of the ship. That's part one of the training." Hope looked up at her and she turned around to face him. He did his best to look strong, but it was obvious he was struggling. "First things first, I need to know what you can and can't do. So, can you fly?" she asked.

"Fly?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Right." She began to rise into the air. She stopped halfway to the ceiling, hovering in midair. Hope's jaw dropped; he obviously had never seen a person fly before. That was typical; most untrained people had no idea what a person could do. "If you can't fly, then you will be at a major disadvantage should you get into a fight with someone who can." She landed again before moving on.

The other tests proved about as effective. The kid was physically weak and his attacks were sloppy. She was surprised that he had been able to create an energy sphere, even if it was a small one. In the end she had decided to start from scratch. She spent the day having him do various basic exercises and instructing him on how to use the pieces of equipment around the room. When he needed to rest, she made sure he did so inside the training room, where gravity was greater.

At halfway through the day they got lunch. She knew the kid wasn't very strong, and decided that they would eat lunch in the main room. He was exhausted by the time they left the training room and was obviously happy to be stepping out of the heightened gravity. She made a simple lunch for the both of them and sat down at a table to start eating. Hope took a seat on the other side of the table as he started eating as well.

They had only been there a moment when Serah walked in with Snow. The large man went to get something to eat as Serah sat down at the same table Hope and Light were at. She spared the small boy a glance, her eyes widening at him sitting with her sister, and then turned to Lightning. "Where have you been all day? Don't tell me you were in the training room again. You promised."

"I was." Lightning said as she continued to eat. She then interrupted Serah before she could get upset. "I promised I wouldn't train. So I didn't, he did." She finished with a quick glance at the Hope. He was still sweating and breathing heavily from the workout.

Serah then looked back and forth between her sister and Hope. "Really?" she said. It was now she noticed that he did look exhausted. It just wasn't like her sister to spend time with people if she didn't have to. "Really?" she asked again.

Lightning swallowed her mouthful of food before answering. "It was better than staring out the window all day with Sazh."

Serah then turned to Hope. "So, how was it?" she asked. She had never heard of her sister training with anyone, even back when she had been a regular soldier.

"He needs work, and lots of it." Lightning said. With that she stood up, carrying her now empty dish away. She returned a moment later. "I'll be in the training room when you're ready to continue." she said. She then turned to her sister, gave a quick "Serah." And left.

As Lightning left Snow walked in carrying food for himself and Serah. He sat down next to her and asked, "So what's going on?"

"Light was training Hope." Serah answered.

Snow's jaw dropped. "No way. She doesn't even let me train with her." He then looked at Hope, who was still eating and asked, "How was it?"

Hope looked between the two of them and then let out a sigh. "Hard." he said, "I didn't even know half of what she wants me to do was possible. I could barely even walk out of the training room to the table, and the day's only half over." The kid looked fairly nervous and neither Serah nor Snow was surprised. Lightning could be scary when she was being nice. Her training techniques were probably near torture.

"Yeah, I'll bet it was pretty hard." Serah said. "Light used to train nearly non-stop when she was in the corps. I'd have to bring her food sometimes or she'd skip meals."

"It sure pays off though." Snow said. "I've been on the other side of her hits. They hurt." He rubbed his jaw as he said that, and then added, "And that was even before she was as strong as she is now."

"That's why I asked her to train me. Now though, I don't know if I can do it. Even walking in that room is hard." Hope hung his head as he spoke. It had only been half a day and he was already considering giving up. Serah spoke up when she saw what he was going through.

"Don't worry about it." she said. "My sister may be hard on you, but she's always been fair. If she thinks you can't do it yet, she won't make you. As long as you try your hardest, she'll only ask you to do things she thinks you're capable of. She already agreed to train you, and that's something that no one else can say they've had. Keep working with her and you'll be stronger in no time."

Hope looked up at her. "You really think so?" he asked. He didn't know if he could do it, but Serah knew the most about Lightning. If she said he could take the soldier's training, then it must be true.

"Yeah, I do." she said, smiling at him. "Now you go start your training before Light gets upset. I'll take care of your this mess."

"Uh, alright." he said, standing up. "And, um, thanks."

"Go get 'em." Snow said, holding a fist in the air. "You got this."

"Right." Hope said. With that he turned and walked off towards the training room.

As he left Snow leaned down and asked Serah, "How bad do you think it is?" He made sure to whisper in case Hope was still within earshot.

"Oh, he'll be lucky if he can even sit up tomorrow."

_**...**_

"I can't." Hope said dejectedly, lying in his bed. Lightning was standing over him. He wasn't sure what time it was, but he knew it was early. He had never been a morning person, but after yesterday he wondered how anyone could be awake now.

"Yes, you can." Lightning replied, "Now up. You said you wanted to be trained and this is how I was trained. You're just lucky I'm going easy on you. Now you have three seconds before I lift you out of that bed and throw you out the door, and you know I'll do it."

"I'm up, I'm up." Hope shot up, every muscle sore. He let out a painful moan. "I'm sore in places I didn't know could get sore."

"That just means you're doing something right. Now get out of that bed and get dressed." Lightning moved towards the door as Hope, moaning with every movement, started to stand. "Meet me in the training room when you're dressed, and make it fast." With that she turned and left.

When Hope arrived in the training room Lightning immediately set him to work. It wasn't as intense as it had been the day before, but she had him go through every exercise. When they finally broke for breakfast he was wondering how anybody could do this day after day. After breakfast Lightning put them back in the room and had him work on strength training until lunch. After lunch she had him work on speed and agility. They finally broke for dinner and Hope was sure he was going to pass out. Then, after they had eaten, she put him back in the room once more and went through the same routine he had done before breakfast. The worst part of it all was the surprises. Occasionally Lightning would test his reflexes by shouting "DODGE!" and attacking him. He had yet to actually avoid being hit. By the time he made it to his bed he was too worn out to bother even changing clothes and simply passed out on his bed.

For the next three days this was the schedule. Lightning would wake him up, he would shower (he was always too tired to do so after training, and Lightning refused to smell him), he would train and eat, and then he would sleep. The next day the process would begin again.

The fourth day started out the same. Lightning woke him, and then left. He got up, showered, and then started for the training room. He was sore and bruised and wasn't sure he could make it through the day, or even to the training room. He was standing outside the door, just about to walk through, when it happened. The intercom fired to life and Sazh's voice came over the speaker.

"Alright everybody, get over here. We have arrived." Sazh announced. Hope just stared at the speaker for a moment before the door in front of him opened. Lightning stood there, looking down at him. Then he realized he was in her way. He stepped to the side and she moved past him.

"Let's go." Lightning said as she walked away. Hope quickly followed. They walked in silence until they got to the largest room on the ship, the main living area and navigation room. Hope moved to stand on one side of Sazh, next to Dajh, while Lightning stood next to Serah on the pilot's other side.

The entire group stood and looked out at the new planet. It was covered in green, much more than any other planet they had seen. It also had many large, blue oceans. There were a few other areas that stood out as well, such as mountain ranges, large islands, and what appeared to be a single tower of massive size jutting out of the ground.

"It's beautiful." Serah remarked. Lightning agreed, though she didn't say so.

"So, what's it called?" Snow asked.

"From what I've been able to pick up, it's called Gran Pulse." Sazh said. He adjusted a few controls as they got closer to the planet.

"Well, find a place to set us down." Lightning said, and then added "I'm getting tired of being cramped up in here." under her breath as she turned and walked away.

"Setting us down. Alright everyone, get ready – this is gonna be our home for little while." Sazh adjusted some controls and they began to descend towards the planet.

* * *

**_A/N: Well, here it is. The first chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks to Wings of Avalon for betaing, and to Evelos who took a look at it as well. Both were a big help. Also to all the people who encouraged me to actually get this done Kayani-yun, RoxyRoxas1313, and Naramis especially. Just as a note, I posted it under M just to be safe. Idk yet if i'll include M content (probably will have at least some though). Hoping to make a good sized story out of this, though idk exactly how big. And of course, since its a DBZ themed story, expect big fights. Honestly that's why I picked this prompt, I like writing fight scenes. I did want to add in a bit more here, especially with Lightning's training sessions with Hope, but I just couldn't get it to work. Decided I was tired of waiting and uploaded it now. Hope it turned out well. Please, leave a review, I always enjoy them. Constructive criticism is, of course, always welcome. Well, i don't want to take up any more of your time. So Thank you for reading, and I hope you all have a good day._**


	2. The Welcoming Party

Chapter 2: The welcoming party

Lightning's scanner beeped out a warning to her as someone approached at high speed. She didn't need the thing, at least not to know their power. She could sense a person's power without it; she just wore it as a communicator. The others on the ship must have had their own alerts as they gathered at the door. Her eyes found the location of the power, not near high enough to be a challenge, but enough to warrant her attention. Soon enough the source came into sight.

The woman was clearly strong. Tan skin and tight muscle showed she put herself through a lot of activity. She wore a black shirt with a blue and silver sash over it along with a pair of loose dark blue pants and sandals. She had black sleeves on her forearms and a few necklaces. Her dark hair was messy and wild, but still in place at the same time. What Lightning noticed most about the approaching woman, however, was the serious look on her face. Whoever she was, it wasn't a welcoming party.

Fang slowed her speed as she got closer to the new comers. She landed fairly close to the ship they had arrived in and took stock of the aliens. She could sense a few low power levels emanating from the ship, but ignored them for the most part. Instead she focused on the woman in front of her.

Asymmetrical hair of a strange color, pink of all shades, rested against pale skin. She was smaller than Fang had expected, but still obviously strong. She wore a sweater with a vest over it, held together with lots of belts and buckles. Combat boots and a skirt covered her legs. For accessories she had a shoulder guard, a cape, a pair of gloves, and a strange device over one eye. Fang also noted that the other aliens in the ship had the same device, she wasn't even sure she wanted to know what it was. Most importantly though, wasn't her appearance, but her power. Fang could feel immense power from her. It wasn't as much as she expected, but still more than enough to level cities and take out most of Fang's friends had they come instead.

Deciding it was time to break the silence, Fang spoke up. "I want you to leave. I don't wanna fight you, but I will if I have to. So if you just get on your ship and get outta here, I won't get in your way. Should you try and stay though, take what we got, then we're gonna have a problem." Fang thought that would do the trick. If they decided to fight now, it was on their own hands. Hopefully they would leave in peace, but if what she had heard was true, that wouldn't happen.

Lightning was genuinely surprised by what she heard. The woman's accent was strange and unique, but it was the words that shocked her. This woman had the nerve to threaten her. "Tch." Lightning scoffed. "I'm not here to fight you, but I'm not going to just leave either. There is something on this planet that I want. Once I have it, then I will leave. Maybe you can help me. I'm looking for a man with purple hair and a big sword. I know he is on this planet somewhere, so if you want me gone, help me find him."

Fang hung her head and sighed. She was prepared for this, but was still hoping to avoid it. She was just going to have to deal with it then. "I ain't gonna help you take out some innocent soul. I don't know why you're after this guy, but you can just forget about finding him. I'll give you one more chance. Leave now or be prepared to fight."

Lightning raised an eyebrow at the woman's words. She was still threatening her, and pretty much accusing her of being an assassin while she was at it. This was not an innocent man by any means, but this woman assumed that she was the bad guy. It was really getting on her nerves. "I don't know why you would assume he is innocent, but I can assure you he is not. I will not be leaving here until I have found him. If I have to fight you to get to him, then so be it."

Fang grinned. As much as she wanted the woman to just leave Gran Pulse alone, she also had to admit she was looking forward to seeing what the other woman was made of. "Alrighty then," Fang said as she cracked her neck, "You asked for it." She threw her arms by her side and let out a yell as she brought her strength to her.

Lightning could scarcely believe it; the woman's power level was skyrocketing. She herself could push it down some, but she had never thought someone could keep so much under wraps. Alarms went off from her scanner as the power level continued to rise. She jerked the thing off and threw it at the ship where Snow caught it. She never cared for numbering power levels anyway. She could hear alarms going off in the ship as well. There were only two people who had ever done that before. The woman's power began to level off before she straightened back up. Lightning knew that the woman's power was even higher than her own, at least while she had it suppressed, and probably about even when she let it out. This was going to be interesting.

Fang straightened up to observe the pink haired woman's reaction. To her surprise there was no fear, and only a little bit of shock. Most people were fairly nervous when she let herself get charged up like this. She could feel the other woman's power was lower than her own. Was she suppressing her power too? If so, then she had been misinformed in their abilities.

Lightning decided that words would be pointless. She had tried reasoning with this woman, to an extent, and it hadn't worked. Now she was just going to show this arrogant alien her power. Rather than the showy yelling and screaming, Lightning opted for a simpler approach. Clenching her fists by her side she brought her power to her as she kept an eye on the woman for a reaction. Sure enough, she got one. It was subtle, but as Lightning's power rose she saw the tan woman's eyes narrow and her jaw clench. She let her power taper off as she reached her peak and relaxed her muscles.

Lightning stared down the woman in front of her, waiting for her to make a move. She didn't have to wait long. One moment Lightning was staring at her, the next she was bringing up her hands to block a punch. The other woman's fist collided hard with her arms and she slid back. She launched herself upwards as the brawler, since she obviously was, pressed the offensive with an attempted kick to the side. She only had a brief second though; the woman was already following her upwards with her fist drawn.

She dodged the blow and brought her own fist up to connect with the woman's stomach. She spun and landed a kick to her side, followed by bringing a punch down at her and forcing her back towards the ground. She came back before she even hit the ground and Lightning barely avoided the uppercut to the jaw. She wasn't fast enough to avoid the following punch to the gut however. It forced her back and she recovered only just in time to see the next blow coming. She dropped herself in the air to avoid it as she charged an attack in her hands. She let the energy blast fly towards the woman above her. She stopped her assault just in time to avoid the blast, but was caught off guard. Lightning seized the opportunity and rose up through the air, bringing her knee into the other woman's stomach followed by a punch to the jaw. She spun again to land a kick to her head, but caught only air. She launched herself backwards and avoided the expected punch as the woman rose from below once again.

The brawler attacked again. She got in close and threw a barrage of melee attacks that Lightning was hard pressed to dodge. She ducked under one of the punches and spotted her opening. She brought her fist up towards the woman's open gut, but was surprised when her fist was suddenly caught. The moments delay as she realized she had been tricked was all it took and she felt a solid elbow collide with her jaw. A punch to the stomach followed, and then another punch to the jaw. A powerful knee landed in her gut as the tanned woman pressed her first real advantage. An elbow dropped down on her back, followed quickly by a kick to the side that sent her flying into a nearby rock face.

One second was all it took for the brawler to be on her again, but that was all Lightning needed. She dropped and the woman's fist destroyed the part of the rock were her head had just been. She charged an attack in her left hand even as she brought her right up into the woman's stomach. The blow caught her off guard and Lightning let her energy blast go, hitting the woman and sending her flying backwards. Lightning was more than fast enough to grab this opportunity.

She flew faster than her opponent and ended up behind her. She landed a kick to the stunned woman's back, augmented by her own flight. She then circled around to her front again and brought her knee into the woman's chin. She followed this with a spinning kick to the woman's side that sent her flying again. Once again Lightning appeared in the woman's path to continue the attack. However the brawler suddenly corrected herself and sent a blast at Lightning in one move.

She spun to the side to dodge the attack, and then dropped just in time to feel the other woman fly over her. She was forced to keep moving back to avoid the string of attacks thrown at her. This woman really liked to get in close for the assault. She kept moving back and to the sides looking for an opening she could use to get out or attack. She knew she was faster than the woman; that much she had figured out, but she couldn't use that if she was constantly dodging.

Suddenly she got an idea. If she wanted to get in close, then she very well could. Lightning let energy build up for an attack, not just in her hands but all over. As her opponent pressed the offense she failed to feel the subtle change in energy as she would if Lightning had put it all into one point. Then, timing her attack for right after she had dodged a knee aimed at her stomach, Lightning let the energy go in one large blast in all directions. The blast did the trick and threw her off of the attack for a moment and Lightning used it to put some distance between herself and her attacker.

The woman had already recovered by the time Lightning stopped some distance away, but didn't press the attack again. Then Lightning saw something that really got on her nerves. The woman was grinning. In the middle of a fight, she was grinning right at her.

Fang looked at the woman who had escaped her assault. This was proving to be a very interesting battle. She didn't hit as hard as Fang had expected, though she still packed a punch Fang had barely ever felt before, but she instead was fast. Really fast. Fang knew she was stronger than the pink haired woman, but if she couldn't land a hit then that wouldn't matter. She decided to speak up. "Wow, you're better than I expected you to be." She said, "The name's Fang, by the way. Oerba Yun Fang."

"And I should care what your name is, why?" Lightning asked.

"Well, I dunno about you, but I like to know the names of the people I fight. So tell me, what do you go by?"

"I go by Lightning," she answered, and then added, "I'll give you credit, you're better than I thought. But you will lose." Fang's face got serious again at this.

"I don't think so. I ain't just gonna let you come to my world and smash it up. So give me your best, you won't get by me. I've been holding back." At this she reached down and grabbed her sash, pulling it off over her head and dropping it. She then took off her sleeves and let them do the same.

"Weighted training gear." Lightning observed. "So you think by dropping that you can keep up with me. Well, two can play at that game." She then unclipped the weights from each of her hands and let them fall to the ground with a solid thud. She followed this by unclipping her shoulder guard, and cape with it, and letting it drop to the ground where it made a small crater upon landing. The look on the woman, Fang's, face could only be described as "Oh shit."

Fang composed herself quickly before launching at the woman she now knew as Lightning. She was pretty sure she figured out why the woman got that name as her fist found only air. She felt a foot slam into her back and she moved forward, only to be met with a fist to the face. A knee to the stomach followed that, and then another fist to her jaw. A kick in her side sent her flying to her right, but a moment later she felt a fist stop her by colliding with her jaw. A knee landed in her ribs on the left side, lifting her upwards, and was almost immediately followed by a foot landing on her back from above and forcing her to go crashing into the ground.

That speed demon was kicking her ass, no doubt about it. She had barely been able to react. If she could just land a few good blows she could slow her down, even the playing field. Suddenly she heard someone speak, a guy. She looked in the direction of the ship and saw three people: a boy with silver hair, a girl with pink hair, and a large guy with a bandana. It was the big guy that spoke up, saying, "Way to go sis, kick some ass!"

The response came in the form of an angry voice above shouting "I am not your sister. Now get inside the damn ship where it's safe." Fang realized that the woman was distracted and seized on it. She shot into the sky and landed an uppercut straight to the woman's jaw. She then grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved a knee into her stomach. A punch to the side of her jaw sent her spinning and Fang wrapped her arms around the woman from behind, pinning her arms to her side. She flew straight up into the air with the woman held tightly. She struggled a lot, enough that Fang had trouble keeping hold, but she held on nonetheless. When she thought they were high enough she turned over and dove towards the ground as fast as possible. She plummeted towards the ground at high speed with her captive held tight. Just barely above the ground she let go and swerved off, sending the pink haired woman crashing into the ground with the force of a meteor. Fang wasted no time letting her get back up however. Instead she was already charging an attack in her hands. She only gave it a few seconds, knowing it wouldn't take long before she missed the chance, and then fired at the crater the other woman was in. She didn't bother with just one hit either, she kept the attack going for a short bit before letting off. She hung in the air as she watched the dust cloud that had formed at the point of her attack.

All of a sudden the dust cleared as the woman fired up her power. Fang looked down and watched as Lightning looked directly at her. To say she did not look happy was an understatement. Fang matched her glare with one of her own, determined not to show weakness. Despite this she was somewhat deterred. She had expected the woman to at least have been phased by an attack like that. Instead all she got was a dirty look. She really was good.

Fang rolled to the side as she felt the speedster fly by her faster than should be possible, narrowly avoiding a knee to the face. She saw the attack charged in the woman's hand and barely had time to put her arms up as it hit her. She was forced back and down by the attack. When it stopped she moved her arms to find the woman and felt a punch to the stomach when she was suddenly right in front of her. A punch to the jaw followed, and then a knee to the ribs that caused her to double over. She felt both the woman's hands come down hard on her back and she was forced, face first, into the ground.

She lay there for a moment not moving as she sensed the other woman's energy. She could feel her approaching from above. When Fang decided she was close enough she flipped herself over and fired a blast at her from one hand. Lightning dodged it by dropping to the right, but it gave Fang the moment she needed to get up. She shot forward with her fist drawn and threw a punch as she flew at the woman. She caught only air as the punch was easily dodged. She felt another knee once again in her ribs. An uppercut hit her in the nose and she was sent upward. She managed to catch herself in the air, but as she did she saw the pinkette already above her. The woman fired a blast at her, but Fang managed to deflect it with one arm. Then, seeing what was coming, she moved to the right and the woman flew by her with one foot extended.

Fang fired at her immediately, but the woman managed to get her arms up to take the brunt of the blow. She shot forward as the alien did the same and they collided in midair. Fang's fist caught the woman in the jaw, while she felt a kick hit her in the side. Both of them recoiled from the attack. Fang moved higher in the air while Lightning landed on the ground.

Fang watched the person below her. She had to admit, this was more difficult than she had expected. Fang was the strongest person on Gran Pulse, and after everything she had been through she hadn't figured she would find someone who could match her. However she couldn't let this continue. She was fighting for a reason, and she couldn't afford to lose. If she did, Gran Pulse itself could be in danger. It was time to end this.

Lightning looked at the woman above her. She was surprised by the amount of effort this was taking, very few people she had met could match her like this, even the few that had been near her in power level. But if she got too worn out fighting this woman then she wouldn't have the strength to finish what she came here for. She needed to end this.

"Well, you really have been tough after all, ain't you?" Fang asked of the other woman. She continued before she could get an answer though. "But I think this has gone far enough. I ain't gonna let you hurt anyone here. So while this was fun, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to finish this." With this she bent her arms at the elbows, pulled herself in some, and tensed every muscle in her body.

Lightning watched with curiosity as the woman tensed. What was she planning? She had already reached her peak power, Lightning was sure of that. She still had a bad feeling about this. The woman's breathing became heavy and she tensed even more. Everything Lightning saw was typical of a power build up, but that was impossible. If she could go higher, why hadn't she before? The only explanation Lightning could think of was so far out she refused to consider it. Her senses told a different story.

She watched as the tan woman began to yell a primal battle cry. Then she saw the woman's aura grow and change to a deeper color. She felt it to; the woman's power was rising at an alarming rate. Everything about this was impossible, but it was happening. All of a sudden the woman straightened herself and let out one final shout. That was when it happened. Her hair flashed a few times, and then settled. Instead of black it was now a golden yellow. Her eyes had changed color as well. Both of those changes were superficial compared to the third, however. Lightning could feel the power being emanated from the woman. She had to be exponentially stronger than before. That confirmed it. This woman was, in fact, a Super Saiyan.

Lightning was in awe for a moment. Despite it being completely impossible, this woman had broken the barrier. She composed herself and turned to Serah who was still standing at the ship. "Serah, I want you to leave," she said. She got the expected response.

"What?" Serah asked. "We can't just leave you here!"

"You can and you will," Lightning said, "It's not safe here."

"That's exactly why we can't leave you."

"Serah, I don't want you to get hurt. I want you to find somewhere safe to hide and I will come find you when I'm done here."

"But I –"Serah started, but was cut off.

"No, Serah, I don't want to hear it. I want you to leave here now!"

"Hey, she's right," Snow said to Serah from beside her. "It's not safe here. Lightning can handle herself, but I don't want anyone to get hurt. Let's just do what she says and come back later, okay?" Serah looked between her sister and her fiancée for a moment before she caved.

"Fine," she said, "but not too far. I want to be nearby if anything goes wrong."

"Alright, not too far," he said, and then added, "let's go." He, Serah, and Hope reentered the ship and Sazh fired it up. Soon enough they were flying through the air away from the two women. Lightning watched the ship go until it was only a dot on the sky, and the turned her attention back towards the woman in the air before her.

"Shouldn't you be on that ship too?" Fang asked. She had let them have their moment, and was glad when the others got on the ship. She had hoped her sister would go with them and they would leave after seeing her power, but she wasn't actually surprised when she had stayed behind. The woman was proving to be horribly stubborn.

"No," Lightning said, "I just wanted them to be out of the way for when I kicked your ass."

"You still think you stand a chance? Face it, you ain't strong enough. If you couldn't beat me before, then you can't do it now." Fang looked down at the woman. Aside from the moment of shock when she had revealed her power, the other woman had not seemed intimidated at all. Fang didn't have time to ponder it as the woman responded.

"You know, blonde really isn't your color," Lightning said, assuming a matter of fact expression. Fang's eyes widened in surprise. How dare this woman insult her hair?

"It isn't? And I assume you think it would look better on you?" she shot back.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Lightning said, snapping the trap she had set, "Let me show you how it's done." With that she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Fang heard the woman's response and then watched as she closed her eyes and focused. She was about to be offended that she had been brushed off, but she felt something odd. The woman's power level was rising. She watched as Lightning's aura changed to a more yellow color and began carving crater in the ground at the woman's feet. She saw her breathing grow heavy and her muscles tense. Sparks began flying across the woman's aura and body both.

All of a sudden Lightning shouted and threw her arms and head back. Fang felt an enormous rush of power from her and held up an arm out of instinct. She was stunned by what she saw. Lightning was standing in the middle of a crater with sparks jumping across her body. Her hair had kept its shape, but was now bright yellow to match Fang's. Her eyes were the same shade as Fang's as well. "No," Fang said, "that can't be right."

"What?" Lightning asked. "Did you think you were the only one?" She began to rise into the air as she spoke again. "I'll admit, I was surprised. I thought that I was the only one."

"Yeah, too bad only one of us is getting outta this intact," Fang said to the woman who was now even with her.

"Right," Lightning said as she locked eyes with the brawler. Fang had less time than it takes to blink to dodge the punch that came at her as the woman came forward. Her arm came up and she blocked a kick to the side and then ducked as a blast shot over her head at point blank. She moved up and to the side to avoid a knee to the face and then back to dodge a right hook. The hook flowed into a roundhouse kick that she ducked under and then moved back again to barely escape a foot to the chin. All of this took about a second.

Fang struck back, throwing a punch as she rose to try and connect with the woman's gut. She missed as the Lightning moved to the side and threw her leg out. Fang felt the other woman's shin connect with her gut and she was sent backwards. She was stopped when Lightning grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back, right into a powerful punch to the jaw. A knee to the ribs was followed by a kick to the jaw as Lightning rose.

Fang dodged to the side and Lightning went past her with her legs locked together. She immediately fired a blast at the speedy woman. It missed when Lightning dodged backwards, but Fang was already on her. She dropped down on her with a kick that was dodged, and then fired a blast from the other side that barely missed. A punch aimed at the jaw followed that but caught air as the smaller woman dropped, which left her open for Fang's knee to connect with her jaw, knocking her head back.

Fang capitalized on the chance and dropped her elbow onto the woman's face. The blow knocked the smaller woman down some more and Fang followed with a punch to the side of her jaw. She grabbed Lightning's shoulders and brought her knee into her gut twice before grabbing her by the collar and punching her in the jaw again. The blow tore the vest and Lightning plummeted. Fang tucked her legs in and dropped rapidly, knee first, at the woman.

Lightning moved to the side just in time to see the Gran Pulsian drop past her. With both hands she fired a blast at her that collided with her side. The woman was caught off guard and Lightning rushed forward to land a punch against her jaw. She shoved her knee into the woman's stomach and followed with a punch to the ribs. She ducked a punch to the jaw and rose with her knee into Fang's chin. A two handed blast followed that forced the Gran Pulsian to the ground.

Fang rolled out of the way as soon as the blast stopped. To her side, where she had been a moment before, she saw Lightning on one knee with her fist in the ground. Fang lifted herself into the air and was about to return the attack, but the other woman was already at her. She ducked a punch and then moved back away from a knee. Another set of punches and kicks came at her and she was forced to dodge them all, unable to land an attack of her own. _Damn this woman is fast_.

She flew back as fast as possible to get away from the assault. When she was out of reach she noticed the energy charged in the smaller woman's hand. She moved down and to the right to avoid it as the blast flew past her a moment later. She turned and just had time to throw up her arms as she was hit with a fist that could level hills.

The force of the punch threw her backwards. She knew she wasn't going to get away that easily though. She fired a blast of energy forward to throw her off. It failed as the smaller woman simply deflected the blast, and then shoved her fist into Fang's stomach. Fang doubled over from the hit, but jerked backwards quickly, just in time to avoid the follow up kick that would have hit her in the face.

Sensing an opening she fired a blast forward, catching Lightning in the shoulder. Fang then rushed forward with a punch, landing it on the other woman's jaw. She followed it with a knee to the stomach, and then a double handed hit to the back that sent the woman straight into the ground. Rather than follow up she used the time she had gained to take a breather and regroup.

Lightning hit the ground hard. She had really not been expecting to face someone like this. She stood up slowly, she could sense the other woman's energy and knew she wasn't about to attack. This was either very good or very bad. She looked up at the woman and saw her looking back. Despite her attempts to look intimidating, the rapid rise and fall of her chest gave away heavy breathing. She was wearing down after all.

Fang looked down and met the gaze of the woman on the ground. It had been a while since she had had a challenge like this one. The last time it had happened she had broken the barrier of her power and transformed for the first time. It was just too bad she couldn't face someone this strong on more relaxed circumstances, but no, it was always some evil slug man or world destroying aliens she had to fight. Either way, this was fight was starting to drag on. She brought her wrists together and held her hands to the side by her hips as she focused. "Kame…" she said.

Lightning saw the woman change position and heard her speak. Then she saw the blue energy begin to charge in the woman's hands. She decided two can play at that. She held her hands in front of her chest, one above the other, with the lower hand opening up and the other hand facing it. She didn't speak, but a sphere of red energy began forming in her hands. She heard Fang speak again. "Hame…"

Both woman poured energy into their attacks. Neither one could afford to lose this; doing so could mean losing the battle. By now each blast had the strength to level entire cities or split mountains. Neither one of them moved, and for a moment it seemed as if nothing moved at all.

Then Fang's voice broke the silence.

She let out a yell as she threw her hands, and her attack, forward. Almost simultaneously, Lightning threw her attack upwards to meet the oncoming blast. The two charges met in midair with a thunderous crash. Each woman continued to hold their attacks together, attempting to push the other back. The point where the blasts met had exploded outward as it increased in size. Each attack now at least three times larger around than any person is tall.

Lightning pushed against the force of the attack. She felt herself sliding backwards slowly, the dirt rising over her feet as she dug into the ground for purchase. In the air her attack was forced back slightly. She put everything she had into it but she couldn't gain any ground. That was when she realized, she wasn't strong enough. The force behind the other blast was too powerful; the other woman was too strong. There was no way she would be able to overpower the other woman. If that was the case, then she would have to win another way.

Fang poured herself into the Kamehameha. She pushed down on the other attack. She felt it as her blast pushed the other back down. She looked past the harsh light from the attacks and saw the other woman sliding backwards. She saw the determined and stressed look on her face. She saw her struggling. Bolstered by the small victory Fang poured on her attack even more. She had this and she knew it. She was the stronger of the two and she was about to prove it. With a primal yell she forced even more power into her attack.

Lightning felt the extra power the woman poured on as she heard her yell. _Now!_ she thought. She let her attack fall and flew into the air. Without a source the blue energy tore through her attack with ease. As it did so she flew mere inches from the attack directly at the source of the power.

Fang felt her blast go right through the other attack. She cut off her energy, but was just a little too late. She looked up and saw the woman's fist. The punch caught her perfectly in the jaw and left her stunned. A knee to the stomach followed that. The next attacks were merely a blur as the woman struck her repeatedly from every angle with more speed than Fang could follow. She felt the final blow, an uppercut that left her facing the sky, and looked up. The woman appeared above her in a blur. She just heard the woman let out a vicious yell and was hit dead on by a powerful blast.

The attack wasn't as strong as the one she had pushed back, but it was powerful nonetheless. Fang was on her back in a small crater created by her impact and she was very sore. She opened her eyes and looked up, wondering why she wasn't still being attacked, not that she minded. She saw Lightning still floating high above in the air. However the other woman was breathing heavily and Fang could sense a significant drop in her power level. _She's running out._Fang thought. _Between the blast, the speed, and that last hit, she's running out of power._

Fang stood up slowly, very slowly, and took a moment to think over the situation. The other woman was weakened, but she was in pretty bad shape herself. Her clothes were nearly in tatters and the other woman's were no better. She looked over to where her Kamehameha had hit. _Well this place is gonna have a small lake soon._ She looked back up at her opponent. She was going to get one shot at taking this woman down. If it didn't work, she wouldn't have anything left.

Fang shifted her feet and got ready. She was sore, but she was pretty sure the other woman was too worn out. Her speed advantage was gone, but Fang was still stronger. The Gran Pulsian shot into the air. Her first punch missed its mark as the smaller woman dodged. She followed with a roundhouse kick that came a lot closer but missed as the woman dropped. Third time was the charm as she brought her knee up into the other woman's chin. She followed that with a solid punch to the jaw, and then a kick to the gut. A punch to the ribs was followed by a kick to the head. Finally a powerful uppercut put them in the reverse of where they had been moments ago. The other woman was stunned and dazed as Fang shot up into the air.

The smaller woman hung in the air below her as she charged up a ball of energy in her right hand. Rather than launch the energy forward she crushed the sphere in her hand and then energy flowed around it. She flew down towards the woman, drawing back her fist. She was just about on her when Lightning suddenly snapped out of her daze and fired a blast at Fang. The blast hit her just as her fist connected with Lightning. Between the two attacks they were forced apart, Lightning hit the ground as Fang was sent back, higher in the air.

Fang held her shoulder where the blast had hit her as she hung in the air. The ground was now littered with craters from their battle and the smaller woman was in the newest one. The woman was lying on her back with one arm over her head, the other by her side, and her legs bent in obviously uncomfortable positions. Her eyes were closed and her hair was back to pink.

Fang let out a small chuckle at the sight. She had finally won. She dropped half her height in the air and realized she was still in pretty bad shape. She landed near a large rock and let herself return to normal; she couldn't hold her other form any longer. She rested against the rock for a moment. She was in almost as bad of shape as the woman she had just beaten, the flight home was going to be a long one.

Just as she was preparing to take off, she felt it. She threw herself to the ground just in time to avoid a blast that destroyed the rock she had been leaning on moments ago. She picked herself up on looked over. There, half in and half out of the crater, on her hands and knees, was Lightning.

Fang knew she owed her life to lady luck right now. She had barely dodged that blast, and in her current state it definitely would have killed her. What she couldn't figure out was how in the hell that woman was still conscious, never mind alive. The two women stared at each other from where they were. Lightning rose to one knee, but no farther. Fang stood, but was hunched over and exhausted. Neither of them had the strength to attack.

Lightning made the first move. She held out one hand towards Fang, a sphere of energy forming in her palm. Fang kept her eyes on the energy. After a moment, rather than attack, it flickered and died. Lightning fell down to her hands and knees again. Fang didn't bother with attacking. Even if she was successful, which she wasn't sure would happen, it would leave her without the strength to get home. Someone would find her, eventually, but she didn't want to have to wait. She could finish this later.

Rising into the air she looked back down at her opponent. "I'll be back to finish you off later," she said. Apparently the battle hadn't weakened the smaller woman's pride, as Lightning responded.

"You better bring some friends with you then, because I don't think you can do it on your own."

"Says the woman on her hands and knees." Fang shot back.

"To the woman running away," Lightning added in. Fang just about hit her for that. Oerba Yun Fang did not run away, but she caught herself in time. Any attack was one she couldn't afford.

"Oh, I ain't running away. It's called regrouping, and I'd suggest you do the same. Looks like you could use it." With that she started home, only turning her back on the other woman once she was a good distance away.

Once the woman flew away Lightning allowed herself to collapse on the ground completely. She might have been able to get up, but she didn't know where to look for the others. They would be back soon anyway, so for now, she was just going to rest.

* * *

**_Chapter two it is. Really liked this fight scene. For some reason I always like the idea of Fang and Lightning fighting. Maybe cuz they're both just so awesome. Thanks to all the readers. Hope you liked it. Update, fixed a few very minor things, grammar really, that I saw when i downloaded it. Since I lost everything, including the next chapter, when my hard drive crashed. Ofc reviews are still, and always, welcome. Working on getting chapter 3 back so i can post it. Just don't know when that will be. :(. _**


	3. Sisters

Chapter 3: Sisters

Fang wasn't sure how you could fly with a limp, but she definitely was. Holding on to her injured shoulder, or at least the one that was worse, she was unstable as she flew. The fight had taken nearly everything she had, and she still hadn't managed to finish it. She had not been prepared for it, that was for sure. She hadn't expected her to be that strong, and especially not to be able to transform like that. Their visitor was going to get a serious talking to when she got back.

It was then that she felt it. Looking ahead, towards home, she felt a power source heading towards her. For a moment she tensed up, in her debilitated state she couldn't stand a fight. Then as it got closer she recognized the feel of the power and relaxed, simply holding her position in the air until they came into view. Soon enough she saw him, Noel Kreiss.

Wearing his typical large blue pants and tight, short sleeved shirt, he had his two swords strapped to his back. She didn't even have to wonder why he was here as there was only one reason he would be, Vanille. No doubt she would have sent him to check up on her. As much as Fang hated her worrying, this time she was very glad she had.

"Holy shit, Fang, what happened to you?" Noel asked as he stopped just in front of her.

"What does it look like? I got my ass kicked. Now are you gonna help me out or not?"

"Oh, yeah." He answered and moved beside her. He took her good arm around his shoulder and put his arm around her waist to help hold her up as he began flying back the direction he came from. "So, how did this happen anyway? We could feel the power from your fight all the way over at your house. What was going on?"

"We fought, that's what happened. She's a lot stronger than I expected."

"Damn. It sure looks like it. Didn't you turn?"

"What do I look like, an idiot? Of course I did. Then she did too."

"Wait, what?!" Noel asked, suddenly stopping; the jarring causing Fang to yell out in pain.

"Watch the sudden brakes will you? I'm kind of in a lot of pain here."

"Oh, right, sorry." He said, slowly starting forward again. "But what do you mean she did too? The same thing you can do? Lots of power and yellow hair and all that?"

"Yes that's what I mean. Surprised the hell out of me too."

"That explains why we could feel it. But I didn't sense any other power when I was coming to get you, so that means you beat her, right?"

"Not really."

"What do you mean by 'not really'?"

"I couldn't do it, didn't have the power left in me. Barely had the strength to fly away. Lady luck is the only reason I could do that. She threw one last shot at me that I barely avoided before she collapsed. I didn't have enough left to return the favor, put it all into a highwind to try and end it."

"You hit her with that and she still wasn't down? Damn. Well, we'll get you fixed up and you can finish her off later. But still, it's surprising. I didn't think there was anyone as strong as you out there anymore."

"Me either, but of course the universe decides to send someone to keep me humble."

Noel couldn't help but laugh at that. "You, humble? That'll be the day."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Now can we hurry, I kind of want to get to Vanille, I could use some of her medicine right now."

"Alright. She's probably getting pretty worried by now anyway. Hold on, I'm gonna pick up the pace a bit." A moment later he sped up and felt Fang's grip tighten as she winced in pain. He knew it probably hurt like hell, but the sooner he got her home, the better.

It wasn't long that Fang's home came into view, a small building set on a small island. It was big enough to fit all their friends for a fun night, but that was about it. Noel made sure to slow down gradually as he got closer, landing as gently as he could. Even so, Fang still flinched as he did.

"Hey, we could use some help out here." Noel called out. A moment later the door to the home opened and a large man with fiery hair walked out, followed by a smaller woman.

"Hey, how'd it- wow." He said, his eyes going wide.

"It's about time you two got back, we- Holy crap!" Lebreau let out at seeing Fang's state.

"Here, let me give you a hand." Gadot said as he walked over, ducking down and putting Fang's other arm over his shoulder to help Noel carry her.

"What happened to you?" Lebreau asked, leaning in to look at Fang closely.

"Why does everyone keep asking that? I got my ass kicked, ain't it obvious?" Fang growled in response.

"Yeah, it really is. We just never expected it to happen to you." Lebreau answered as she held open the door. "But let's get you inside."

Noel and Gadot helped Fang inside and Lebreau followed. "Hey Vanille, Fang's here, and I think you're gonna want to get out here." She called. They only had to wait a moment before they heard approaching footsteps.

"It's about time, what was taking so- oh my god!" she exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand as her eyes widened in shock.

"You know, I really wish people would stop doing that, it's getting to be kind of annoying. I know I ain't in good shape but you don't have to rub it in. And before you ask, I got my ass kicked, that's what happened. Now can you help me out?"

"Oh, yeah, of course." Vanille said, recovering from her shock, "Put her in the guest room, no point in carrying her upstairs." With that she headed towards the kitchen as Gadot and Noel helped direct Fang to the nearby room.

Vanille quickly rushed into the room, pushing the others aside as she carries what appears to be a water bottle, but filled with a green liquid. "We're all out of sensu beans. Sorry. I used the last ones to make potions since I didn't figure we'd be dealing with, well, this." She said, gesturing to Fang with a wave of her arms to make her point. Undoing the cap she carefully held the bottle to Fang's lips, holding one hand under Fang's head for support to help her drink it.

Fang coughed and sputtered at the first taste of the medicine. "Damn, Vanille, what's in that? Tastes like a malboro's breath."

"I know it's no good, but that's what you get for going and getting hurt."

"Geez, I didn't do it on purpose." Fang complained, but to no avail.

"I don't care. Now just drink up or I'll drown you in it." With that she held the drink to Fang's lips again. This time Fang actually managed to get a bit down, and Vanille let up after just a bit. "Alright, now listen up. This stuff can be pretty potent, so go sparingly with it. It can also knock you out if you take enough, which you just did. I need to go get some stuff, and I'll see if I can get some more sensu beans while I'm at it. You are NOT to leave the house, or do anything strenuous. I don't want you hurting yourself any more. You got that?" She pointed menacingly at Fang to get her point across.

"Yeah." Fang said, already getting drowsy, her eyelids getting heavy. "I got that. No work. Don't get hurt."

"Right. Now sleep well. I'll be back later." She closed the door carefully behind her as she left, though Fang was already out cold by the time it clicked shut.

"How's she doing?" Lebreau asked, sitting in the living room with Gadot and Noel.

"Not good." Vanille answered, "I mean, she's been through worse, but still, she's gonna need a lot of rest to recover."

"Dang. She's not gonna like that."

"Even worse," Noel added, "The person who managed to do this is still out there."

"Yeah. Who would have thought someone could do this with as strong as she had gotten?" Lebreau said. "Just hope we don't have to run into them for a while."

Vanille sighed heavily. "We can hope." She said, and then started for the door. "I'm gonna go into the city. Fang should be out for a while, but if she wakes up, make sure she stays in bed. You know what she's like. I'm gonna see if I can track down some stuff to help her, maybe some sensu beans if I'm lucky."

"Alright, you leave her to us, we'll make sure she stays put." Gadot said.

"Thanks. I know you guys will keep her in line. She's stubborn though, so you gotta be patient. Oh, and good luck, you'll need it."

"Same to you." Lebreau said as Vanille lifted off, taking to the air right out of the doorway.

…

The ship landed gently on the ground, the door opening and the ramp extending down. Serah, however, didn't wait for it, jumping down and running out ahead. In front of her was what was left of the battlefield. Craters large and small littered the field, rubble and debris scattered about.

"Where is she, I can't sense her!" She asked in a panic. Looking around some more, she reached up and turned on the scanner that covered one eye. For a few seconds she worried as it failed to pick up a reading. Finally though, it came to life with a beep, a target appearing in front of her.

Following the point where the target had appeared she finally spotted her sister, lying unconscious half in and half out of the largest crater. "Lightning!" She cried out as she ran forward. When she reached her, she dropped to her knees, immediately looking her over. "Lightning, can you hear me? Are you okay?" she asked, receiving no response. She rolled her sister over so she was laying on her back. "Lightning, say something!" she said, looking for a pulse. She was only somewhat calmed at finding one. By now, Snow had managed to reach her side.

"Hey now, calm down." He said gently, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "She's tough, she'll be alright." He kneeled down beside her. "You know what Sis would say is she saw you like this, right? Just scoff and tell you that you don't need to worry about her. That it's not that bad."

Serah wiped her eyes before tears could start to run down her face, letting out a small laugh. "Yeah, and she'd tell you not to call her Sis."

"Yep. We'll just get her into the ship, and she'll be up and training again in no time. She's been hurt before, but she always seems to come out stronger." With that, he leaned forward and picked Lightning up carefully. "It's actually probably better that she's not awake. She'd kick my ass for carrying her like this."

Serah chuckled as she stood up alongside Snow, both of them starting towards the ship. "Yeah, she doesn't even like it when you carry me." She led the way as they made it to the ship, where Hope joined them at the door.

They quickly made their way to the medical bay of the ship. It wasn't large, but it worked for them. To the right was a bed, raised high and kept clean, a cabinet full of typical medical supplies on the wall opposite the door. To the left, taking up the entire wall, were two large domed structures, made of metal with thick doors in the front and small round window at about head height.

Serah rushed over to the first medical pod, opening the door and stepping inside. "In here, hurry." She said, gesturing to Snow. As soon as he was in, Serah set to work. She put a small strap around Lightning's wrist, put an oxygen mask on her, and helped Snow lower her gently to the ground.

Stepping out, she set over to a console on the wall near the pod as Hope closed the door behind the two of them. Moments later the chamber started to fill with a green fluid, containing a number of medical properties, as well as nutrients dissolved within to be absorbed through the skin. Soon enough it was full, with Lightning now floating within the substance, her face even with the window so she would be able to see out if she were to wake up.

Snow stood beside Serah to her right as she let out a sigh, placing an arm around her, with his hand on her left shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about it. She'll be fine. She's been through worse. Just wait, in a few days she'll be out of there, complaining about how you worry too much."

Serah chuckled humorlessly and feigned a smile, leaning in to him. "Yeah, I know. It's just hard not to worry about her when she goes and does stuff like this." Taking a deep breath she stood up straighter and squared her shoulders. "But, worrying won't get anything done. I'm sure Light would be pissed if she woke up and found all we did was stand around worry about her."

"You're right there. Were you thinking of something?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna go see if I can learn more about this world we're on. Maybe I can find out where Caius is, or something about that woman Light fought."

"You want me to go with you? I mean, it could be dangerous, would help to have a hero around." Snow lifted himself up to his full height, puffing out his chest, and pretending to act like he wasn't posing on purpose.

Serah giggled, covering her mouth with one hand. "That's okay, my big hero can stay and watch over my sister. I'll wear my scouter, if anything big gets too close I'll be sure to come back quickly."

"Alright. Just be careful. We've already got one person hurt; I don't want that to happen to you too." He gave her a hug, holding her tight for a moment and then let her go. He leaned down a bit as she stood on her toes to give him a peck on the cheek.

"I'll be fine. Just look after Light." She said as she walked out the door.

Snow turned to the other person in the room, who still hadn't stopped looking at Lightning in the healing chamber. "How about you, kiddo? You alright?"

Hope almost seemed startled, but settled easily. "Yeah, I mean, I'm not the one in the tank, right?"

"She'll be fine. Barely a scratch for someone like her. Serah just worries a lot." Snow smiled, trying to ease his worry. It didn't matter how many times someone got injured, nobody liked seeing them hurt.

"You're right. She's Lightning, she's not going to let a few bruises stop her." He took a few steps back, seeming to have broken out of his melancholy a bit. "Serah's right too though. She'll be upset if we just stood around doing nothing. I'm gonna go train."

"That's the spirit! Mind if I join you? I may not be as strong as her, but I know a thing or two."

"Sure, if you want to. I mean, it's an open room."

"I'll be there in a minute. You go get it set up like you want." Snow said, and Hope walked out of the room, headed the opposite direction Serah went. Snow turned back to look at Lightning again for a moment, letting his shoulders drop. "Wake up soon, Sis. We're worried out here." With that he followed Hope's path out, picking himself back up as he went.

…

Serah hadn't been flying for long before she found the first town. It wasn't very big, so she decided to pass it by. It was easier for people to remember faces in smaller towns, especially strangers. She didn't want to risk word of their presence getting spread around if possible. She did her best to stay out of sight as she went by, but used her scouter to mark the location. Always better to know the layout, after all.

It was a little bit after that she found more people. She recognized the layout fairly quickly, similar to other places she'd been, it was clearly a suburb. Sure enough, she found a city not far after. Despite the large populace and abundance of activity, it wasn't anything like the cities back on Cocoon. There were more buildings, but none of them were near as tall as the ones back on Cocoon; most not over three or four stories. Scanning around she didn't see any excessive power levels and figured it would be safe to check it out. Finding a secluded alleyway she landed and joined the crowd of people.

Serah had visited a lot of planets since they had left Cocoon, some filled with people and some with barely a handful, but none felt like this place. She was in the middle of a city, yet it was still very homely and cozy. People ran and walked, vehicles flew by, and merchants peddled wares both in stores and in stands on the street; it was a city like any other, but it didn't have the mechanical feel of most. Sure the people didn't pay a lot of attention to one another, but they weren't overly passive either. She even saw someone stop off the street to help a shopkeeper carry some boxes in.

She wandered the city aimlessly, not knowing what to expect, simply taking it all in and learning the sights, sounds, and even smells of the new world. Then while she was wandering down a street looking in some shops, she found a smell she would recognize anywhere on any planet, the salty smell of an ocean. Following her nose, she turned a corner and headed down a street. Sure enough, just a few minutes later, she found it, a white sand beach with waves gently lapping at the shore. The setting sun illuminated the sight in an array of colors. This also meant most people had left for the day, or were packing up to leave now.

Stepping onto the sand she stared in awe. Just a few feet from the waves she felt at peace. No matter what planet they were on, there was always a beach, and it always felt like home. Just like being back in Bodhum. She took it all in, not paying attention to the time, simply enjoying the gentle sea breeze as she watched the sun dip lower. Finally it was almost done, the colors starting to fade beyond the horizon to make room for the night sky. She was thinking that she should head home when she heard the voice behind her.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" they asked, causing her to jump a bit. Looking behind her she saw a young woman with red hair in pigtails, and carrying a basket. She turned back to looking at the fading shades as the woman stepped up beside her.

"Yeah, it is." She answered. Silence fell upon the two of them as they enjoyed the sight until it finally vanished, the last ribbons of day giving way to the twinkling stars. Smiling she turned to the woman next to her, the two of them now the only ones left on the beach.

Smiling back, the new acquaintance stuck out her hand, "I'm Vanille." She said.

"Serah. Nice to meet you."

"You too." Vanille said, and then tilted her head as if thinking about something. "You know, I don't think I've seen you around here before. And I'd probably remember you with hair like that."

"My hair?" Serah wondered, touching it. Come to realize, she hadn't seen anyone with pink hair around. It must not be a common color on this world.

"Yeah, it's so bright. Don't see that every day."

"I guess not." Serah realized she would have to be more cautious if a basic trait was so identifiable. For now though, there wasn't anything to do about it, and this person didn't seem to be a threat anyway. "But yeah, I'm kind of new to the area. Just got here actually, was looking around and found my way here."

"Oh, you're not lost are you? Cause I know my way around here pretty well."

"No, I'm fine. I can just go back the way I came." Deciding it was best to move the conversation away from herself, Serah looked curiously at the basket Vanille was holding. "What do you have there? If you don't mind me asking, that is. Looks like… plants?"

"Yep." Vanille answered, holding up the basket. "Herbs, medicinal to be specific. Couldn't find the ones I was after but these should work pretty well."

"Medicinal? Is someone sick?"

"No, my sister just got hurt. She kind of got into a fight." Vanille answered, though she was confused when Serah chuckled.

"Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, it's just I have a sister too, and the same thing happened to her."

"Older?"

"Yeah. Very overprotective too."

Vanille nodded in understanding. "Let me guess, stubborn as a brick, solves problems by punching them, short temper?"

"Check, check, and check. Does your sister throw herself into dangerous situations for stupid reasons?"

"All the time. I mean, they're not always stupid reasons, but that doesn't mean she has to be so careless."

"Right! Older sisters are idiots. They think they have to protect us, and get themselves hurt when they do so."

"Yeah. Don't they know how much that makes us worry?"

"Oh they know. I remember one time she said 'If you're worried about me, it just means you're safe enough to do so, and I'm doing my job right.' As if that makes me feel any better."

Vanille shook her head. "We should just tie them down and make them listen. Not let them up till they've learned their lesson."

Serah giggled, imagining that. "I can just see it now. If your sister is as stubborn as mine though, she'd be in that chair for about 500 years."

"And then they still wouldn't have learned their lesson. First thing they'd do is run right into danger."

"Of course." Serah started to speak again when her scouter beeped. "Hold on a second." She said to Vanille and turned away, pressing her hand to the side of the device. "Hello, Serah is here, so speak real clear." She answered the call in a sing song voice.

"I'll do my best." Snow's voice said into her ear.

"Hey, what do you need?"

"I was starting to wonder if you were alright, it's getting kind of late."

"I'm fine. Sorry I worried you, was just watching the sunset, and started talking with someone."

"Alright, was just curious. Will you be back soon?"

"Yeah, I'll head back in a minute. Shouldn't take me too long to get there."

"Ok, see you soon then. Love you."

"Love you too." She said, and then ended the call. Turning back to Vanille, who had been waiting patiently she explained "My fiancé."

"Ahh, I see. So that things a communicator? I've never seen one like it." She said, looking closer at it.

"Yeah, it's called a scouter. It does a lot of things. They were pretty common back home."

"Cool. How does it work?"

Serah opened her mouth to answer, but then stopped and thought. "I don't really know, actually. I just sort of push the button and read what it says. Never actually built one."

Vanille grinned at that. "Yeah, a lot of things are like that. I don't know anything about air conditioning, I just turn the dial and it makes the house cold."

"Exactly. Anyway, I should get going. Don't want to get lost on my first night here."

"Okie dokie. Maybe I'll see you around again while you're here."

"Maybe, it was good talking to you." Serah said, turning to walk away as Vanille did the same in the opposite direction.

"You too. Ciao!" Vanille waved.

"Bye." Serah said, waving back. After turning a corner she waited a moment and then took off into the air. She hadn't gone far, still in the city, when her scouter beeped an alert. Turning she saw the source, a person flying away from the beach. Serah was surprised at first; not having sensed much power in the woman, but realized Vanille must have pushed it down just as she did. Turning back again, she started forward once more, headed back to the ship.

* * *

**_So, I got another one up, yay! About time too, lol. I actually had this one almost completely done before my comp crashed, then writers block hit really hard for a while. That's not really an excuse though, I'm glad i finally got it done now. Much slower and a bit shorter than the last chap, but that was necessary. Plenty more to come (eventually) so stay tuned. Thanks for reading, and if you liked it, or even if you didn't but have something to say, then please review, they're very helpful. Anyway, thanks again and have a FLight filled day._**


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